To ensure an energy-efficient home throughout the holidays, it’s vital to be mindful of energy consumption and other wasteful practices. Consider these tips to prevent energy waste through year’s end. Continue reading “Maintain an Energy-Efficient Home Over the Holidays With These 3 Tips”
Understanding How Your Home Uses Energy is ImportantUpgrading an HVAC system could be one of the most complex purchases you make as a homeowner, and the critical first step is a load calculation. Continue reading “Before Investing in an HVAC Upgrade, Get Load Calculations Performed”
Knowing How Your Home Uses Energy Will Help You Choose Wisely
If you’re starting the process of choosing a new HVAC system, the first and most important step to take is getting a load calculation. Continue reading “Need A New HVAC System? Do A Load Calculation First”
Critical Thinking Can Help You Make a Wise DecisionWhen purchasing a major appliance, such as a heating system, there are upfront costs and there are lifetime costs to consider. Upfront costs are the price of the equipment along with installation. Lifetime costs involve both upfront costs and the costs to maintain the equipment, fuel costs and other factors. Continue reading “Do You Know How Lifetime Costs Impact Your Heating System Purchase?”
If the Long Island summer heat and humidity don’t make you uncomfortable, your cooling bills just might. But increasing your energy savings doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice comfort. Here are a few summer energy savings tips: Continue reading “Summer Energy-Savings Tips For Long Island Residents”
It’s expensive to own a home on Long Island. But even if you can’t do anything about your property taxes. there are steps you can take to increase your energy savings and reduce your utility bills. Continue reading “Whole-House Energy Savings Tips For Long Island Homeowners”
Your heating and cooling system is no different.
When lightning strikes nearby or a storm knocks down a power line, it’s possible to send a surge of energy through the power grid, damaging sensitive electronics. Anything with a microprocessor is at risk, including your heating and cooling system. Continue reading “You Protect Your Computer With a Surge Suppressor, Why Not Your HVAC System?”
Do you have a steam or hot water heating system? Do you rely on an old, inefficient boiler to heat that water that heats your home? Do you cringe every time you open your heating bill? Did you know that high efficiency boilers cut energy costs?
It’s true. You can save a considerable amount of money on your energy bill by switching to a high efficiency boiler.
Two Types of Boilers
Boilers heat water for use in heating systems. There are two basic types of boilers:
1. Steam boilers, which transports the steam to steam radiators
2. Hot water boilers, which sends the water to baseboard radiators, radiant floor systems, or a coil system
Because steam boilers operate at higher temperatures than do their hot water counterparts, they are a little less efficient than hot water boilers. However, high efficiency boilers come in both steam and hot water models.
Understanding Efficiency Ratings of Boilers
The annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) tells you how efficient “high efficiency boilers†really are. The AFUE is calculated by taking the total heat output of the boiler compared to the total energy consumption of the unit. For instance, an AFUE of 90 means that 90 percent of the fuel’s energy is used to heat your home. (Only 10 percent of the fuel’s energy is wasted).
Finding the AFUE of high efficiency boilers is easy. By law, the AFUE must be displayed on all new boilers. Just keep these facts in mind:
· The higher the AFUE, the higher the efficiency level of the boiler.
· Mid-efficiency boiler will have an AFUE of 80% to 89%.
· High efficiency boilers will have an AFUE of 90% to 97%.
· The minimum allowable AFUE for a fossil-fueled boiler is 80 percent.
· The minimum allowable AFUE for a steam boiler is 75 percent.
If you want to save a lot of money on your energy bills this winter, without sacrificing comfort, buy a high efficiency boiler. You’ll be glad that you did.
T.F. O’Brien services the Long Island, New York area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about preventive maintenance and other HVAC topics, please download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
